


Warriors in the Demon City

by megablazikens



Category: Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga, 真女神転生IV | Shin Megami Tensei IV
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-14
Updated: 2015-06-14
Packaged: 2018-04-04 08:44:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4131423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/megablazikens/pseuds/megablazikens
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Only the Embryon managed to reach the top of the Karma Temple and fight the one who had cursed them all with their Atma. Even though they had escaped the Junkyard's destruction, they did not arrive in Nirvana. Instead they end up in a strange city shrouded in darkness, where demons run amok and humans fight to survive. They must figure how how to escape the city and reach the Nirvana they were promised. At the same time, Tokyo is buzzing about a small group of samurai that supposedly arrived from the land above the ceiling... [A DDS and SMTIV crossover]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Warriors in the Demon City

When Serph awoke, the first thing he saw was a darkened sky. It was not cloudy like the skies in the Junkyard, where the rain endlessly poured down and brought with it the souls of those who have died in battle so that they may fight again. The sky looked completely black, with what looked like rough edges scattered throughout. He moved his limbs carefully as he got up, trying to find bearings on his surroundings. The entire area around him was in ruins. Many run down building, broken lamp posts, abandoned vehicles, and broken chunks of pavement made up the bleak landscape. He could see a few illuminated buildings in the distance, but with no sign of other living creatures around. The air around him felt very cold.

He looked over into a small hole filled with water, taking note of his reflection. His slender face had small specks of dirt covering the skin, and his silver hair appeared messy, but there was one thing that had stood out the most in his reflection: the Watercrown brand was still there.

The sight of that accursed mark across his cheek and the lingering hunger he felt could only mean one thing.

There's no way this could be Nirvana.

Serph placed a hand to his head. He remembered the Junkyard, the tribes the Embryon had conquered, and the comrades they had lost in the process. He remembered running up to the top of the Karma Temple to find Sera speaking with Angel, the one who had cursed them all with their Atma. He remembered fighting the monstrous Hari-Hara, the destruction of the Junkyard, and-

He remembered seeing Heat, Argilla, Cielo, Gale, and even Angel running toward the gates of Nirvana, and seeing Sera desperately try to reach him as he ran over the crumbling pieces of the tower after them. 

“I will find you...”

Sera's words echoed in his head. Wherever he was now, he had to find his comrades. They had gone through the gates as well, surely they had to be somewhere in the mysterious landscape spread before him. He took one more look around before he started walking further into unknown territory. No matter what, he was going to find his comrades and Sera. They'll figure out what to do once they have reunited.

~*~

No matter where or how far he walked, Serph saw no signs of his friends, nor of other people. He passed building upon building, finding nothing but broken glass and destroyed furniture within their walls. Sometimes, he would come across strange ponds that were filled with poisonous water, which burned at his skin as he stepped further into them. He would take care to avoid them, but when he was forced to cross the deadly pools, he would transform into Varna. The protective carapace shielded him from the corrosive water. 

The desolate surroundings filled Serph with feelings of dread, uneasiness, and awe. It reminded him of the Junkyard's own barren landscapes and ravaged buildings, but at the same time, it seemed too quiet. He could remember how often he would see skirmishes and major battles breakout across their old territory of Muladhara, and how even after battles he could still hear some gunshots echo throughout the land. That was long before the emergence of their Atma that pitted beast against beast. There were many times when Gale had advised him to take some of their guards with him whenever he traveled out of their Muladhara base, to protect him from surprise attacks. With or without his Embryon guards, he would always be on the lookout for the enemy, who may lay in wait behind whatever piece of debris lay scattered across the land.

This place, too, was covered in ample hiding places for such attacks, but Serph could sense no one around. He knew better than to lower his guard; he would not have survived in the Junkyard as the leader of the Embryon if he had. He could feel the brand on his cheek tingle ever so slightly at the thought of an enemy attack. An attack would mean a battle between a new enemy, the thrill and exciting sensation of having Varna's blades slice through his foe, and the taste of delicious blood and meat awaiting him as he tears into the enemy's flesh.

Serph shook his head. He couldn't think about that now, he needed to find the rest of his tribe. They had to be somewhere in city. Just as he took another step, he felt a chill down his spine.

Someone, or something, was nearby.

Serph quickly removed the handgun at his hip, holding it up as he took a careful look around. He didn't know what kind of enemy he was up against, and though Varna's much stronger than any weapon he could carry, it was better to wait and see what kind of foe stood before him and save his energy. Slowly, he could see inhuman figures emerge from the shadows of the buildings that surrounded him.

“Well look at what we have here! A human! So far from the underground shelter? We're in luck!” One of the creatures spoke with excitement as he eyed Serph.

“What do you think you're doing? We got plenty of Reds waiting for us if we don't attack humans, remember?! Tayama promised us! Leave this human be!” A second demon replied.

“To hell with the Reds! I've been craving REAL meat for a long time! This is our chance! Fresh meat just waiting for us!”

More demons emerged behind them, circling around Serph with hunger in their eyes. He wondered if they could see his own hunger in his eyes; he felt the slightest twitch of his tongue from the thought. 

Just then, one of the demons circling him lunged at him, it's claws extended and aimed at his throat. He pulled the trigger on his handgun and shot the demon in the face and it fell to the ground, laying completely still. Serph had expected the demon to rise up once more and attack, but it's body remained still. These demons were not like the people of the Junkyard, who were practically invincible against regular weapons. It won't be hard to take them all out with just his handgun, but with their numbers, he couldn't take the risk. 

“You think you're so tough, huh?! We're gonna eat you alive!”

Serph raised his hand to the mark on his cheek. He could feel power overflowing from within him, spreading from his center to his head and to his feet. A blue light enveloped him as he felt Varna's power flow out of his body. He lifted his arm and cast the light away, revealing Varna's body instead of his own. The blades shot out of his arms as he lunged toward the nearest demon, slicing them apart with little effort. He could feel the blood splatter over his face. Instinctively, he licked the blood off his lips, his hunger growing stronger with the taste.

“What's with this guy?!” He could hear another demon speaking from somewhere, “He's a demon, too? What the hell are you trying to do?”

“Get out of my way!” Serph responded in Varna's powerful voice, “If you don't leave now, I'll be the one eating all of you, one by one!”

“You're gonna pay for that, you freak!” The demons roared.

Varna leapt through the air and pointed his blades toward a small group of incoming demons. In an instant, they were all sliced in half before they could even land an attack on him. Varna caught some of the demon flesh in his mouth, savoring the taste of his enemy's blood, though it did not sate his hunger. He could sense another group of demons trying to rush at him from the side. The air around him cooled until ice particles had started forming. He raised his arm and cast the ice projectiles straight at the enemy group; the ice tore most of them apart, while others were completely frozen in ice until Varna shattered their bodies. He could feel intense heat from behind him as a demon launched a barrage of fire straight at him. He avoided most of the flames, but a few of the fireballs landed a direct hit on his shoulder; he hissed in pain. 

That's odd. How can a simple attack like that cause him so much pain? He had defeated countless enemies in the Junkyard, to the point of eliminating the leaders of rivaling tribes and effectively becoming the ruler of the Junkyard and whatever remained of the other tribes. He had become one of the most powerful beings in the Junkyard, yet somehow the measly attacks of a weak demon had managed to get him to cry out. What was going on?

He failed to notice that, as he fought, more and more demons began to gather around him until he was completely surrounded.

“So, you think you're hot shit, huh? Well, try this! There's no way you can take all of us on at once! Get him!”

Varna did his best to cut down foe after foe, yet the demons kept coming, and he was getting tired. Why was this happening now? Even as he ate the enemies he cut down, he could not regain the energy he had expended during the battle and it became difficult to hold them back any longer. He was going to be killed. Varna let out a roar, and-

“Serph! Watch out!”

Varna snapped his head upward, and saw two whip-like appendages heading straight for him. They wrapped around one of his arms and pulled him away from the battle. As he landed on the ground, he took a good look at his savior. A demon with long, slender arms, a narrow head, and two mouths on their breast stood before him. It was Prithvi; Argilla. 

“Are you alright, Serph?” Prithvi asked, examining him as he got up.

“I'm fine, mostly,” Varna staggered to his feet, “These demons were too much for me, it seems...”

“Stay here, sir. We'll finish them off!”

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see two other demons rush toward the demonic horde; a gray demon with emerald wings and a large mouth that split through its head, and slender demon with triangular wings and a blade that rested on the crest of its head. It was Gale and Cielo in their demonic forms of Vayu and Dyaus. One of Prithvi's appendages wrapped itself around a nearby concrete slab, lifting it off the ground with little effort and throwing it into the crowd. The demons scattered, some crushed by the weight of the slab while others ran out of the way, only to be sliced by a powerful gust of wind. Dyaus flew over the horde, raining purple lightning upon the enemy before swooping down and using the blade on his head to cut through remaining demons. Larger demons hurled fireballs and icicles toward Dyaus only to find the earth beneath them quake and large rock formations shooting out of the ground, impaling them as they tried to flee. Vayu would swoop in after them and pick them up in his mouth, clamping down his massive maw onto the enemy. No matter where the demons went, they could not escape the onslaught from the three attackers.

“Screw this!” A demon finally exclaimed as it started running away from battle, “I'm outta here! I knew we should've just gone to Club Milton with everyone else! I'd take Reds over this bullshit anyway! Everyone run!”

Whatever remained of the large demon horde retreated from the battlefield. Once the dust had settled, Varna was able to see countless demon bodies along with his three comrades standing triumphantly over the carnage. 

Blue light enveloped them as they reverted back into their human forms. It was a relief to see their more familiar faces as Argilla, Gale, and Cielo again, even if it had not been long since they've last seen each other. Varna wasted no time in transforming back into Serph soon after they had transformed.

“Hey!” Cielo ran up to Serph and hugged him, knocking Serph over in the process, “It's good to see you're alive! Are you hurt?”

“You're one to talk just after you knocked him over like that, Cielo...” Argilla walked over to where they fell and pulled Cielo away. “But I'm glad to see you're ok, too, Serph.” She held out her hand and helped Serph to his feet.

“It is a relief to see you are mostly unharmed, sir.” Gale nodded.

“I'm glad to see you are all safe.” Serph looked around, “...So, I take it you guys haven't seen Heat at all?”

Everyone fell silent. Their happy reunion replaced with a feeling of anxiety and uneasiness.

“No, Serph. We haven't seen Heat anywhere in this...this place.” Argilla ran her fingers through her light pink hair, her distress evident across her face. “We haven't seen Sera either...I'm sure Heat can handle himself, but what about Sera? There's no way she can stay safe in a place like this! There are demons every where.”

“We haven't seen that Angel lady either,” Cielo added, “geez, I hope we don't run into that monster again. There's no way I can forgive her for what she did to the Junkyard; to our comrades!”

Gale shifted slightly at the mention of Angel, touching the bridge of his nose.

“Angel...should not be our concern for now. We are at a great disadvantage. We have arrived in this strange land, without any information as to what this place actually is or what type of beings live here. Heat and Sera are still missing from our rank. Furthermore, Serph, I’m sure you have noticed that our power had somehow become...diminished.”

Serph nodded slowly, turning to Cielo and Argilla as they confirmed in a similar manner. “We still retain our ability to transform, yet the power we gained in the Junkyard is now mostly gone. Not even devouring our enemies seems to bring our power back completely. I do not comprehend any of these strange turn of events.”

“Yeah, I even flew up to try to get a better look at this place, but something strange was in the way.” Cielo turned his attention to the dark sky. “When I flew higher, I hit my head on something. Somehow, it's like the sky is made of rock. I tried breaking through it, but nothing happened. It looks like this entire city is surrounded by this strange rock stuff. What in the world is going on?!”

Serph held his hand out to silence his friends. “Everyone calm down. I'm not sure about what's going on either, but we can't just stand here and do nothing. First thing is first, we have to find Heat and Sera. Heat is strong, but if what Gale said about our power applies to Heat as well, he could still be killed by the demons lurking around here. Knowing Heat, I'm sure we will find him wherever Sera is, so we should try to locate Sera first. She won't be able to defend herself so easily.”

“You're right, Serph,” Argilla sighed, letting her shoulders relax, “standing here doing nothing won't help us at all. Let's go find them.”

“Yeah! Let's go! I'm pretty sure Heat will just get himself into more trouble if we leave him alone for too long, and Sera's probably scared, too!”

“I also agree. We can work on finding more information about this place once we have all regrouped.”

Serph smiled. Despite the situation they were in, he couldn't help but feel happiness when he sees how determined his comrades were. Once they've found Heat and Sera, they can work on finding out more about this strange city, and perhaps they can finally escape and reach Nirvana.

~*~

Finding Heat and Sera in such a place is much easier said than done. They have been walking for what felt like hours through the city, looking through the broken buildings and exposed crevices throughout the place, but they found no signs of their missing friends. Instead, they found more demons. Some of the demons they encountered would foolishly attack them, only to be struck down and devoured. Other demons, hearing about the great battle they took part of earlier from the surviving demons would cower away from them. Worry started settling into Serph's mind. Would Heat be able to fend off large demon attacks like the one from earlier all on his own? Would he try to provoke the demons into battling him? What about Sera? Was she alright as well, and if she was with Heat, would he have the strength to protect them both?

“You okay there?”

“Huh?” Serph's thoughts were interrupted by Cielo's question. “I'm alright...I'm just worried for Heat and for Sera.”

“I see...I'm worried about him, too. I mean, what if he decides to attack a bunch of demons? He's gonna get himself killed!”

“Now Cielo, I know Heat can be brash, but I don't think he'd be dumb enough to deliberately attack demons when his powers have been diminished as well,” Argilla shook her head, “or at least, I hope not.”

Gale remained silent as he scanned their surroundings for more enemies. Despite the strange situation the were put in, Gale continued with his duties as a Bishop. Back in the Junkyard, Gale's tactical advice and prowess were able to get the Embryon out of tight situations; he even managed to keep a balance between his Bishop conditioning and the powers from his Atma in check were many other Bishops have failed. Now, more than ever, did they need Gale's help in navigating through this new land, but even with his abundant knowledge, without any other information to go by, he was on the same boat as the rest of the group.

“Sir, this entire time we have come across many demons and plenty of ruined structures, yet no sign of any other creatures or humans around,” Gale reported, “there is ample evidence to suggest that humans once occupied these buildings, yet no sign as to where they could have gone.”

“Maybe the demons ate them all?” Cielo added.

“That is a possibility, but at the same time, I would not rule it out. Some of the buildings we have come across still seem to have some sort of power source that keeps them illuminated. I doubt that any demon would go to the trouble to keep them lit.”

Argilla turned to Serph. “Also, you said that the demons were talking about something called 'Reds' when you ran into them, right? I wonder what they meant by that.”

“I'm not sure.” The demons also spoke about eating fresh meat. When the emergence of the Atma had transformed the people of the Junkyard into terrifying demons, they were forced to devour each other in order to survive; the demons here, however, did not turn on each other even once when they had attacked Serph. If they did not eat each other in the same way the citizens of the Junkyard were forced to, then what have they been eating? Could it have something to do with these Reds they spoke of?

Gale suddenly stopped in his tracks, holding out an arm calling for the rest of them to stop as well.

“There is something nearby.” 

“What is it?” Cielo asked.

“Can you not hear it?”

Everyone remained silent. He was right; the sounds of what could be either a conversation or an argument could be heard coming from the other side of a collapsed wall.

“Follow me. I have a bad feeling about this...”

Serph motioned to the rest of his tribe and they slowly climbed up over the wall, careful as to not bring attention to themselves. Once they reached the top, they gathered behind a slab of concrete propped up against the other side of the wall. Serph took a short glance around the slab before focusing on the source of the noise from earlier. In a small clearing several yards away stood three humans, two of them dressed in black suits and another noticeably larger man in white outfit gathered around something. One of the black suited men was carrying a machine gun, while the big man in white held a large, blunt wooden object in his hands. The unarmed suited man spoke.

“Listen, girlie, I don't know what in the hell is wrong with you. You end up wandering around up here by yourself and you're gonna end up being eaten alive. I'll say it again: come with us to the Hills and we'll make sure the demons won't get ya. Mr. Tayama will make sure you live a good life.”

“I'm not going with you!”

Serph froze at the familiar voice.

“Ugh, this damn kid is giving me a headache, let's just grab her and get to the Hills.”

“C'mon, kid. I know you have a better sense than that. You wouldn't want to upset my associate here, now would you?” The man reached out and pulled the person they were speaking to into view. He held on to a familiar girl with short, black hair dressed in a khaki skirt and armor with orange markings on the shoulders.

“I'll tell you one more time: come with us, or else you're gonna end up as demon food!”

“Let go of me!” Sera struggled to pull away, but the older man only pulled her closer, tightening his grip on her arm. “It hurts...”

Serph could feel anger rising within him. His left arm had transformed into one of Varna's armored limbs. He sensed the rest of group beginning to transform as well. The won't let these men take her away.

“Looks like she's gonna be difficult. You, get over here and pick her up! We're taking her to the Hills one way or the other!”

The large man in white walked over to where they stood, grabbing Sera's other arm, but before he could pick her up, a thundering roar rang out from nearby, stopping the man. Serph and the others turned toward the direction of the roar as well.

In an instant, the cars and rubble that had blocked the road leading up to the clearing were blasted away by a powerful fireball. From the flaming wreckage emerged a large, red demon with yellow armor adorning his chest and legs. Its shoulders carried two menacing heads, and its muscular arms lifted up, revealing long claws extended from its fingers. Agni had appeared.

The large man pushed Sera aside and ran toward the demon, holding the blunt weapon in front of him. He hit the demon square on its chest; the weapon shattered on impact. One of Agni's heads grinned as he grabbed the man's head and tore him in half. He chewed at the mans innards as they fell from his mangled body, licking his lips clean of the blood. Agni tossed the remains aside and let out another roar. 

“You're gonna regret ever laying a single hand on Sera!” Agni bellowed. 

The other man with the machine gun quickly took aim and fired. A rain of bullets struck at Agni's body, but none of them were able to pierce through Agni's rough skin. Agni rushed upon the man and swatted the gun away. He ran his clawed hand straight through the man's chest before incinerating him at close range. His massive form now faced the last man.

“D-dammit! Why do I have to deal with this shit now?” He pulled a rectangular device from his pocket and began tapping the surface with one of his fingers. “Tsuchigumo, Nozuchi, Inugami, kill this thing!”

Suddenly, three demons materialized before Agni, standing in front of the man who had summoned them before moving into battle stances. Agni roared once more before spewing out a gout of flame from one of his mouths. The Inugami and Tsuchigumo were not fazed by the attack at all as they shielded both the man and Nozuchi. Both demons surrounded Agni and swung at him, landing several hits on his body. The red demon stumbled back and raised his arms up in a defensive stance against one of Inugami's attacks. The elongated dog jumped straight at Agni, opening its mouth and clamping its jaws around Agni's arm. Agni pulled away and made a grab for Inugami in retaliation, but he was suddenly hit by a bolt of lightning from Nozuchi. Agni reeled back from the attack and tried to shoot another fireball at Nozuchi, only for Tsuchigumo to jump on top of him and hold him down. It pressed its legs further into Agni's skin as he struggled to push Tsuchigumo off.

“Heat!”

Serph, now transformed into Varna, ran toward the fight and rammed his body into Tsuchigumo. The demon was thrown off of Agni and struggled to get back onto its feet.

“Serph.” Agni growled. “About time you showed up.”

Varna smirked back at Agni. “I could say the same for you, Heat.”

Both of them stood back to back as the enemy regrouped for another attack. Nozuchi and Inugami unleashed several bolts of lightning and fire at them. Agni shielded Varna from the fire, while Varna avoided the lightning and swung his arm at the Inugami. It was not able to avoid the attack, as Varna's blade sliced through the demon's torso. Agni managed to grab a hold of Nozuchi and released another fireball into its body. It made one last half-hearted attempt to strike at Agni before it stopped moving; he dropped the burning corpse on the ground. Tsuchigumo took several swipes at Agni and Varna as they did their best to shield themselves from its claws. Agni managed to dig his claws into the demons face and held it down, breaking two of the demon's limbs with one of his mouths.

“Serph, hit it now!”

Varna wasted no time in forming several blades of ice from the air and impaling them onto Tsuchigumo's body. The demons limbs twitched about as each blade struck at its body until it lay motionless on the ground. The battered body suddenly disintegrated into a cascade of light, leaving nothing behind but bloody ice shards. The bodies of the other two demons vanished as well.

“What the hell?” The suited man fell to his knees, dropping the rectangular device on the ground next to him. “H-how are these demons so strong? The demons around here were supposed to leave us Ashura-kai alone. W-why?” Before he could muster the strength to stand again, Agni reached for the man and grabbed his head, squeezing it until he could hear bone cracking in his palm. “N-no, p-please, spare me! I-i'll give you a-anything you want! Reds, macca, a comfy place in Roppongi, you name it! I'll even let you eat that girl over there if you-”

Agni silenced the man by crushing his skull in his hand. He let the headless body fall to the ground and shook the blood off his hands. A layer of blue light enveloped them both as Agni and Varna changed back into Heat ans Serph. Heat walked over to Sera and helped her off the ground. 

“You're not hurt, right?”

She shook her head. “I'm alright. Thank you Heat...” 

“Sera!”

A blur of blue hair ran past Heat and straight to Sera. “You're alright! I'm really glad to see you!” Cielo pulled her into a hug and spun her around.

“You were right, Serph,” Argilla walked up from behind Serph, the smile wide on her face as she watched Cielo and Sera, “we found Heat wherever Sera was, just as you said.”

“Yes. Looks like all of us are here and accounted for.”

“Oh, Serph!” Sera let go of Cielo and ran up to Serph, holding his arm in her own. “You're not hurt, are you? You and Heat looked like you were having trouble fighting those things off.”

“Damn, you noticed?” Heat held his arm up to look at the fireball Atma branded on it. “I thought I was just imagining it, but...what the hell is going on? We beat all the tribes in the Junkyard and reached the Gates of Nirvana, so what happened to all that power we gained? Where's this Nirvana we were promised? Did Angel have something to do with this?!”

“We all seem to be having that problem, Heat.” Gale explained. “Since arriving here, our powers seem to have diminished for an unknown reason. I'm not entirely sure why. It might have something to do with this strange land we are in right now.”

“And what was with those guys, grabbing Sera like that and trying to take her away!” Cielo held onto Sera's hand. “They didn't look like they were friendly.”

“They called themselves the 'Ashura-kai,'” Sera spoke. “When I woke up here, I was trying to find all of you, but I ran into them instead. The wanted to take me to a place called the Hills, but I told them I was waiting for someone else. After that they started getting angry...”

“The Ashura-kai, huh?” Heat spat, “Like hell they were gonna take you away.”

Argilla placed a hand on Heat's shoulder. “That's enough, Heat. Sera's fine now, you can cut it out.”

Heat grumbled as he let his shoulders fall slightly.

Serph spoke next. “It looks like this place isn't completely free of humans either, but they don't seem to be friendly.”

“We have yet to confirm the presence of other humans that are not a part of this 'Ashura-kai' that Sera spoke of.” Gale began to walk toward the headless body. “It's regrettable that Heat killed this man off so soon. I had wanted to interrogate him over our current whereabouts. However, he might still have something of value to us.”

Gale reached down to pick up the rectangular device. It's surface was very smooth, with only a few buttons on the side, and the screen would light up whenever the buttons were pressed. Gale ran his fingers over the surface and on the sides, examining it thoroughly. As the screen lit up again, Gale touched the objects shown on the screen, moving them around before turning it off.

“This appears to be some kind of hand-held terminal with a touchscreen. It was through this object that this man was able to summon those other demons. I am unsure of how he did it, but if I can take the time to examine it further, we could get some information about this place and how he summoned demons from this device.”

“Of course Gale, but first we need to find a place to stay.” Serph stood up on the debris from the fight. “Listen up everyone. Now that we're all together again, we should try to find a place to stay for a while. The demons around here might attack us and even with all of us together, we might not have enough strength to fend off large groups of demons. We might also encounter unfriendly humans like those Ashura-kai people, so we should be wary of any other human we encounter here. Once we find a safe place to stay, we should focus on figuring out more about this city.”

Just before Serph could continue talking, they heard a noise coming from behind a nearby building. Serph reached for his handgun while Heat hid Sera behind him. Argilla and Gale ran to Serph's side and readied themselves for an attack. Two figures emerged from behind some wreckage. They appeared to be human, though most of their faces were obscured. One of them wore a scarf around their head, with the lower half of it covering their mouth, while the other wore goggles over their eyes and a bandanna around their face that covered their nose and mouth. They were not as well dressed as the men they encountered earlier; Leather armor covered their chest and shoulders. The shorter person with the goggles stopped as soon as they noticed Serph and his group.

“Oh wow! I didn't expect anyone else to be up here, too.” The person responded with a feminine voice. “Geez it looked like you guys must have run into some demons or something.”

“H-hey wait!” The taller man in the scarf pointed in their direction. “Look! Did they kill that guy?!”

Serph looked back down at the man Heat had killed earlier. The fight must have drawn their attention.

“O-oh yeah, you're right! What the hell are you guys thinking killing that Ashura-kai thug like that?! Don't you know the rest of the Ashura-kai might get on your asses if they find out?! Hunters who kill them off like that are never seen again once they're caught. They have eyes all over Tokyo.”

Hunters? Tokyo?

“So, this entire city is called 'Tokyo' then?” Serph questioned them, stepping forward and putting his handgun away. Argilla shifted uncomfortably as she held her rifle close. Gale walked to Serph's side, keeping a close eye on the couple. 

The two people looked at each other. “Wow, you really must be crazy if you don't even know the name of the city we've all been trapped in for the past 30 years. No wonder you killed that guy without thinking.”

“So this place did not always look the way it does now?”

The woman shook her head. “I can't believe I'm explaining this. Whatever. Long story short, the world went to shit and the Firmament formed above most of Tokyo before the rest of the world got nuked. Tayama's Ashura-kai took over the city, and most of us can't even survive for very long without being eaten alive by the demons.”

“Where exactly is Tokyo then? What is the purpose of this Ashura-kai? Who is 'Tayama'? Is there a way out of this city?” Gale had started questioning them.

The man held his hand and motioned Gale to stop. “Easy there, guy. Look, I'm not sure where the hell you guys have been this entire time to not know what's going on around here, but either way, I suggest you get somewhere safe before the Ashura-kai come after you; you'd probably have to deal with them more than the demons. You have a smart phone right? Bring it over here. I have a map I can upload into it.” He pointed to the device in Gale's hand. He clenched the phone in this hand.

“Go on Gale.” Serph urged him.

“Sir, I have yet to examine the device and check it's capabilities-”

“I know Gale, but these people have some information we could use. We'll need anything they can offer, plus they don't seem hostile. Let them help us for now.”

Gale stared at Serph for a minute before handing the device over to the man. He held one phone in each hand, pressing buttons and sliding his fingers across the screens for a few seconds before returning one of them to Gale.

“There, you're all set. Just press the map button and it should open up instantly. By the way, the place we're in right now is called Ueno. You might have to take a boat to get to the other regions of Tokyo, but if you're looking to avoid the Ashura-kai, I think there was a bridge somewhere around here that you can sneak on. Also, a word of advice, you're gonna stand out like sore thumbs with outfits like that.” 

He moved his hands to gesture at their specialized uniforms with their orange markings. The suits and the markings signified a particular tribe in the Junkyard, but it seemed like the same did not apply here.

“If you need some new clothes, you can check out the shop in Ueno underground. The secret word is 'erwan' by the way. If you wanna be real bold, you can try looking through some of the buildings nearby.”

“Thank you, sir.” Sera spoke up from behind Heat.

The man looked over to her, a smile barely visible from behind his scarf. “Sure, kid. There's no way we'd let a family die out here just because they were protecting their kids from the Ashura-kai.” He pointed to Sera and Cielo.

“Um...”

“Hey! Who are you callin' a kid?” Cielo responded.

“Wait, so you didn't see what happened here, right?” Argilla asked them. 

“Well, no. While we were looking for stuff to pawn off, we heard something in the distance and ran over here to see what it was. You guys must have some skill to kill that guy before he could call more thugs to help him, or before he could summon demons. Don't worry though, we won't tell anyone what happened here. It's a promise.” The woman placed her hand over her chest. “There's no way we'd mess with you after seeing how that guy ended up.”

“Well, here's hoping you guys manage to survive. Bye.”

The couple walked away form the group and disappeared behind the ruined buildings.

~*~

“Man, for a family, they seemed really off, right?”

“For sure. Maybe they're from that creepy Tennozou place. That would explain why they don't know anything. Either way, I think this is the second time this week we've seen weird people wandering around here.”

“What do you mean?”

“What, don't you remember those weirdos in the blue uniforms who said they were from above the ceiling?”

**Author's Note:**

> I really hope I didn't mess up somewhere. Here's the first chapter of what I hope will one day be a complete DDSxSMTIV crossover fan fiction. I hope I will do everyone justice as I continue writing it.  
> I ended up taking a few tips and stuff from Quantum Devil Saga with how I described certain things; mainly Gale. I really like how there was an actual name for the type of soldier he was in the Junkyard.  
> I know I probably could have worded the battle scenes and other things much better, but I couldn't figure out how. This chapter is pretty long, but I'm not entirely sure if other chapters will be as long as this one.  
> Suggestions and tips are welcome, since I want to improve as I go along. Nice comments are also welcome.  
> Thank you for reading, and I hope I have the drive to finish this.


End file.
